Europe Update! 5/23 After another short day of class, Fern and I decided we couldn’t stay around Breda any longer! With Europe being so small, there was so much close by we wanted to see, so we hopped the train to Antwerp, Belgium! When we got off the train…. wow. It was a grand station for sure. Every part of it from its front façade, wooden staircase to its glass and steel ceiling was so cool to look at. It was one of those instances where you were just like “why doesn’t America have more of these?!” We took a few minutes to soak it all in, before hunting down some Wi-Fi to see what to do in Antwerp. We started off with the Rubenshuis otherwise known as the house of the famous Baroque painter, Peter Paul Rubens. In his now-restored home, he did most of his paintings, and worked with colleagues and assistants in his studio. He was an extremely versatile artist, collected art, spoke several languages, traveled Europe as a diplomat, was commissioned as a court painter, and was in general a super amazing guy. He owned perhaps the largest art collection in Europe in his later years, and was one of the most sought after painters in the world for a while. He painted pieces like “Decent from the Cross” and “the Assumption of the Virgin Mary”. A few of his pieces I learned about in high school when I took AP Art History (Thanks Ms. Park!) so it was a real treat getting to see them in real life. After the Rubenshuis we headed to the nearby Cathedral of Our Lady, where many of his altarpieces are now displayed. It really enjoyed wandering around and just seeing all of the art pieces and church items. I think I’m just in love with the overall atmosphere of cathedrals, and their quiet, and slightly ominous presence. This particular cathedral also had their crypt partially open, so we were able to climb down into it to see some of the old graves. A little spooky but nothing compared to the Italian Catacombs. After a brief walk back we snagged a warm Belgium waffle with some chocolate on top, and well Eggo no longer has my heart.
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